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Citadel

One relatively successful low cost techniques used to combat the destructive nature of salts in the fired bricks is to cover the walls with a thick layer of mud and straw plaster and to spray them with clay slurry.

Standing in HR area and looking northwest at the juncture of Last Street (east west) and First Street (north south). VS area is seen on the other side of the street and the stupa mound rises in the background.

This general view of houses in HR area shows the color of the brick walls prior to use of mud brick and clay slurry for conservation. The lower parts of the walls have the natural reddish color of fired brick.

West of the "citadel" mound are lush farmlands watered by modern irrigation channels. A levee protecting the site from annual floods divides the irrigated land from the salt encrusted sediments surrounding the ancient site.

The eroded edges of the "citadel" mounds are covered with red brick dust and pottery, with traces of lighter mud brick revealing the underlying platforms that form the foundations of the uppermost buildings.

Local villagers cross the site in a donkey cart in the early morning mist, with the Buddhist stupa perched on top of the "citadel" mound. The modern road winds through the low-lying area between the "citadel" and "lower town."

On an early winter morning the mist settles in the low-lying areas of Mohenjo daro between the "citadel" and the "lower town". In the distance the heavy mist on the Indus River forms a solid white line.